Cricket club

“ About the year 1786, cricket began to attract attention in England, but during the present century, it has grown so wonderfully in favor with all classes—with gentlemen and professional players, as they are known there, these terms including all sorts and conditions of men, of whatever degree they may be in society, who play the game—that now there is not a village or town, without one or more Cricket Clubs. ”

“ Why, no man used to be more talked of than Yalden; and, when he came among us, we soon made up our minds what the rest of them must be. If you want to know, sir, the time the Hambledon Club was formed, I can tell you by this;—when we beat them in 1780, I heard Mr. Paulet say, "Here have I been thirty years raising our club, and are we to be beaten by a mere parish?' so, there must have been a cricket club, that played every week regularly, as long ago as 1750. We used to go as eagerly to a match as if it were two armies fighting; we stood at nothing if we were allowed the time. ”

“ Happy Elysium, how different from the haste and hurry of our modern life, even when we say we are at play! The modern undergraduate does not even lunch or dine on his college ground.
By these considerations, and only thereby, we can understand why even the University Cricket Club used to play a mile from Magdalen Bridge, when they could have played, so to say, in Oxford itself. They did not think they were far off, partly because they were so used to horses, arid partly because they were so much nearer than Bullingdon cricket. ”

“ The first monarch so accommodated was Kenneth II. (died 854) ; the last was Margaret, Queen of Scots, the sister of Henry VIII. Lord’s Cricket Ground, familiarly styled [226] Lord’s, owes its existence to Thomas Lord, who established, upon land of his own, first on the site of Dorset Square in 1780, and subsequently on its present site, the only cricketing ground where genteel players could meet to enjoy this game without fear of rubbing shoulders with the City apprentices. Previous to his enterprise the formation of a private Cricket Club had never been thought of. ”

“ We all make mistakes sometimes, and the Marylebone Club are not infallible. They have done great things for our noblest national sport, so we may conclude this article by wishing them and all cricket-clubs an uninterrupted career of success in promoting a sport which is dear to rich and poor. ”

“ Such a national game as cricket will both humanise and harmonise the people. It teaches a love of order, discipline, and fair play for the pure honour and glory of victory. The cricketer is a member of a wide fraternity: if he is the best man in his club, and that club is the best club in the county, he has the satisfaction of knowing his high position, and may aspire to represent some large and powerful constituency at Lord's. How spirit-stirring are the gatherings of rival counties! ”

“ That is the difference between school and club cricket. At school one is not out to enjoy oneself. It is a business, this getting of runs and taking of wickets. There are cups for house matches, and there are cups for batting and bowling averages, and it is a sin to miss a catch. There are few worse things than the anxiety attendant on those who play on the fringe of a school side. Not only is one worried about one's own performances, but about one's rivals. ”

“ Well, then, as the Surrey Club had resuscitated cricket at the Oval, he was anxious that the body should restore the equally healthful game of foot-ball also to that district [hear, hear] ; with that view he had drawn out some rules, which he would now submit for the approval of and adoption by that meeting. By the first of those rules it would be seen, he proposed that the members of the Food-ball Club should be confined to those gentlemen who belonged to one or other of the cricket clubs which met at the Oval [hear, hear] . ”

“ The authors had not only to pay the penalty in claret, but to profess their unfeigned delight at its being imposed on them.
While the Keep-the-Line loved fun, others loved athletics. The Mary-le-bone Cricket Club of the olden days did not at all resemble what it afterwards became when known as Lord’s. In its early age, there was as much difficulty in passing a ballot successfully, as in the most exclusive clubs of the present day. ”

“ It had fulfilled what my father had in view when he formed the Mangotsfield Club to spread a knowledge of the game in the district, and teach his boys to play. That its success as a club gave him pleasure I do not require to say. My uncle and he little thought their efforts would bear such fruit, or that the orchard at Downend would be cherished so dearly. They had watched their boys grow into men, able to hold their own in the cricket-field, and accepting defeat and victory in the right spirit. ”

“ Amateur cricket owes a great debt to them, and also to the Incogniti, in which the present governor ot Jamaica has taken such keen interest. With varying sides, but unvarying good-fellowship, these pilgrims of cricket show how many withstand the attractions of golf, and prefer to drive the leather rather than the Haskell.
Each University has one club noteworthy to the community at large. Cambridge boasts the Quidnuncs, the cap of which is so familiar in county matches, because hardly any old blue seems to wear his 'Varsity colours. ”

“ COUNTY CRICKET.
THE MARYLEBONE CRICKET CLUB.
The M.C.C. is acknowledged to be the great cricket authority throughout the world. Like many famous institutions, its success has been at times checkered. In the latter part of the last century Thomas Lord, a cricketer of some weight in his day, was in the habit of frequenting the Artillery-Field at Finsbury. This was the oldest ground of which we have the scores preserved of the early matches. On one occasion Lord there met the Earl of Winchilsea and the Hon. Colonel Lennox, both of whom were great supporters of the game. ”

“ They had lo acres of cricketground in the middle of the Parks, containing a match-ground, with a practice-ground always available. Had they waited much longer they would not have got so much, because planting, football which has immensely increased since 1881, and other interests, would have been too strong. They had what is wanted for the early Oxford season—a hard, fast ground, much more fitted to prepare them for Lord's. They had a pavilion worthy of the club, exactly behind the wicket as at Lord's, and exactly at the same distance from the wickets as at Lord's. ”

“ To begin with, first-class cricket, including representative M.C.C., county, and university matches, is quite different from any other—partly because the results are universally regarded as more important, partly because certain obligations towards the spectators have to be taken into consideration. The last point applies equally to any match which people pay to come to see. Again, school cricket is quite different from ordinary club cricket, and both of them from country-house cricket. ”

“ As the Eleven grew in strength and popularity, the desire to be considered, worthy of a place in it became the aim of evry young and rising cricketer, and on more, than one occasion some of the celebrated amateurs were to be found playing in its ranks for the honour alone. Of course the difficulty was to find clubs of any strength to compete against. Usually the number of their opponents was twenty-two; but very often that was found inadequate to make a fight against so strong a combination of talent, and recourse was had to players outside of the club. ”

“ All repair to a small common, called the cricket ground, and a grand match takes place between the Purton club and the Stretton club; there are about twenty candidates of a side. The vanquished parties pay a shilling each to defray the expense of a cold collation, which is previously provided in a pleasant little copse adjoining the cricket-ground, and the remainder of the day is spent convivially. ”

“ A large square, capable of providing about a dozen good wickets during the summer, is enclosed with posts and chains, and the patient labour of our groundman and umpire (who in his leisure hours is also a shoemaker and a lamplighter) is year by year producing better results. For although it is unwise to have a perfect pitch for half-day cricket, yet, on the other hand, it must not be dangerous, and with the limited means at the disposal of a village club, the happy medium is not easy to attain. ”

“ Hence it has come to pass that, wherever her Majesty's servants have "carried their victorious arms" and legs, wind and weather permitting, cricket has been played. Still the game is essentially Anglo-Saxon. Foreigners have rarely, very rarely, imitated us. The English settlers and residents everywhere play; but of no single cricket club have we ever heard dieted either with frogs, sour crout, or macaroni. But how remarkable that cricket is not naturalised in Ireland! the fact is very striking that it follows the course rather of ale than whiskey. ”

“ The Mayor and Corporation of New York. The toast was received with six cheers, and the glee, "Mynheer Van Dunck," by the Glee Club. The President then called upon all present to fill their glasses to a class of people in which all were deeply interested. It was the desire of the club to give every encouragement to American Cricketers—young or old. In Philadelphia the boys had commenced at it, and in New York they were coming. He hoped to see the All-England Eleven here again next year, for their advent would foster cricketing among Americans. ”

“ As for cricket, it is no good mincing words; we all know that many so-called amateurs are and have been professionals, have been paid indirectly if not directly, and have, in fact, lived by the game. I do not think that this is the case at golf, and I earnestly hope that it never will be. One reason, and a very substantial reason, against it is that golf is a game for individuals, cricket is for a club or county; gate money cannot be charged for one, while the other lives on it. ”

“ The match took place on the 22nd and 23rd April, and on the two succeeding days the I Zingari played on the same ground, against the same club, and won just as easily; Mr. A. Lubbock again being the top scorer with 72 not out. History does not report that the French nation was stirred or excited over the visit of two such important clubs, nor does it say that cricket clubs were formed and flourished on account of it. A month later, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th May, the All-England and United All-England Elevens met at Manchester for the benefit of the Cricketers' Fund. ”

“ J. H. Brain would be the two last who have donned the garment in first-class cricket. Long life and unabating good fellowship to Harlequins, present and future! There is every sign that the wish is destined to be fulfilled.
The Authentics Cricket Club was founded by Everard Britten-Holmes, in November 1883, who, from its birth in Brazenose College, Oxford, has acted as its Hon. ”

“ Each club is managed by two "keepers," appointed by the captain of the eleven, and when they are keen and efficient, the first game of each club is sure to be well managed and seriously conducted; and if the "keepers" make themselves properly acquainted with the abilities of the junior members of their respective clubs, rising talent is duly rewarded by promotion to the upper game. fortunately this is not always the case, and the lower games become rather "scratch" in their nature, till a certain number of would-be cricketers take to boating in despair. ”

“ What is really wanted is a determined and combined effort of all Oxford cricketers to induce all the colleges, which still linger at Cowley or have not satisfactory grounds near Oxford, to gather under the wing of the O.U.C.C, and as far as possible in the Parks, with such a financial scheme as will satisfy the colleges without impoverishing the University Cricket Club. ”

“ Players, or represented England against Australia! No wonder the boy becomes imbued with keenness for the game, when everyone in the village, from, the parson to the old lady who keeps the sweetshop, is continually talking about cricket. As the boy grows older he begins to make his mark in the village club, and when he is eighteen or nineteen, to the delight of his father, mother, sisters, and himself, he is selected to make one of the twenty-two colts of his county that are chosen to play against the county team. ”

“ A modern professional who represents his county is partly a servant of the club, partly a servant of the public, and partly a skilled labourer selling his skill in the best market. He may or he may not have a local interest in the club he represents: that is another aspect of his case.
The introduction of spectacular cricket changed the basis of county cricket considerably. For many years the exhibition elevens and the counties played side by side, but gradually the former died out, and the new elements they had introduced into the game were absorbed into county cricket. ”

“ Surplus plants and cuttings are generally distributed without charge to educational or charitable institutions, and to the poor. Provision is made for cricket, football and other games in a number of the parks. Large gatherings of spectators are attracted to the first-class cricket matches played at Lord’s ground, St John’s Wood, by the Marylebone Club and the Middlesex County teams, Eton College against Harrow School, and Oxford against Cambridge University; to the Kennington Oval for the matches of the Surrey club, and the Leyton ground for those of the Essex club. ”